1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a portable object, such as a watch, having an illuminated fastening band, and more particularly to a portable object having a fastening band illuminated by a super thin lighting element. By "super thin" lighting element is meant a lighting element of the type containing a chemical sandwiched between protective layers, such as an electro-luminescent strip or panel, which typically has a thickness of less than ten millimeters.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Super thin lighting elements such as electro-luminescent strips or panels offer a number of advantages over conventional lighting elements such as incandescent light bulbs and light emitting diodes. These advantages include flexibility, which allows the lighting elements to follow curves on the object to which they are attached, the ability to be printed or silk-screened with logos, marks, figures, and characters, or to be stenciled or masked, a wide variety of color choices, including green, blue, pink, yellow, and white, and low assembly and design costs. These advantages are explained in a number of pending U.S. patent applications and issued patents of the Inventor, including U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 08/226,322 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,475,574; 08/305,294 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,817; 08/343,404 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,736,542; 08/343,915 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,671; 08/383,404 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,667394; 08/383,405 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,760; 08/421,647 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,688,038; 08/432,707 now allowed; 08/438,373 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,946; 08/444,064 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,651; 08/436,007 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,325.
In addition to the Inventor's own patents and patent applications, the following prior publications are of particular interest as background for the present invention:
British published patent specification 166,534 discloses a "wearing device for a person" in which super thin lighting elements are used to illuminate a harness which fits around the shoulder and waist of the user for use by crossing guards. U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,110, on the other hand, discloses a pet collar having a super thin lighting element attached thereto, while U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,151,678 and 5,245,516 disclose safety belts illuminated by super thin lighting elements.
The illuminated straps, belts, or collars disclosed in the prior U.S. patents all have in common the use of large area electro-luminescent lighting elements for the purpose of making the devices to which they are attached more visible to motorists. In general, the illumination arrangements disclosed therein are relatively expensive, because of the large amount of electro-luminescent material used, and the function of the devices is limited to warning purposes. While the copending applications of the Inventor, which are not to be considered prior art, disclose more versatile super thin lighting arrangements, they are not directed to the type of illuminated object with which the present invention is concerned, namely objects having fastening bands designed to be worn by the user, such as wrist watches and other timers, and also heart monitors, pedometers, compasses, children's jewelry, and the like. Illumination of this type of object provides a significant advantage over prior "safety band" illumination arrangements because the type of object with which the present invention is concerned has uses apart from the warning function, and thus are likely to be worn more often than a dedicated safety band, while still providing a measure of protection to the wearer in dark environments, particularly as a warning to motorists.
On the other hand, because the objects with which the present invention is concerned are intended for everyday use in a variety of circumstances, attractiveness both when lighted and unlighted is an important consideration that was not of great concern to the designers of the abovementioned safety belts, collars, and straps.